Callie's Unexpected Sick Day
by MasterMartin
Summary: Callie came into work on the hour, same as every other day. She thought her coughs and aches came from a harmless stomach bug. Less so when she wakes up hours later back home, bedridden and smelling of sick. A small side-story I wrote to accompany a GMOD creation, set up as its own thing.


There was a feeling of misery welling in her stomach as Callie slowly opened her eyes. A dreadful ringing in her head and a morbid heaviness in her body, she slowly arched up to see where she was. At home, oddly enough. In her bedroom, stripped of her idol outfit and lying on her trusty bed, above the covers. Anything else was...difficult to make out. Her vision blurred, her ears rang, her nose smelled something stale and her mouth tasted nothing but bile. She could see one of those fancy medical cupcakes on her bedside table, but nothing more. She couldn't even muster up the strength to get out of bed, just enough to shuffle around until she was sitting up on the bed.

"Wuh..." she croaked out, wincing at the pain in her head, "Where...am I?" she arched her head up and called out weakly, "Marie? Marie!"

"Huh? Callie?" She was only in the other room, thankfully. There was an errant creak as Marie let herself into the room, also stripped to her skivvies and holding a plate upon which a ham sandwich sat. Her face become one of relief upon finding Callie, and she walked towards her, "Ahh, you're awake!" Marie sighed, "Thank Cod..."

"Muh...Marie?" Callie gasped, her vision barely focusing on her, "What happened?"

Marie's expression wasn't quite as forgiving as Callie had hoped, "Oh, quite a lot. Cal...this morning, when I found you coughing up a storm. You didn't lie to me, did you?"

"No!" Callie bellowed out automatically, but Marie's stoney expression made it clear she saw right through that. She sighed, "...Okay, yes. I felt REALLY rough this mornin'. Thought it was just a stomach bug or something, nothing major," a small gurgle escaped her stomach as she dredged her arm over it, "Urgh...it is..."

"You don't say..." Marie tilted her head and put her free hand on her hip, "I should've guessed, really. You were coughing, groaning, you refused to let anyone touch you...you spent the whole day stumbling around and bumping into things. It was like you were in a trance!"

"I know!" Callie called out, "I thought I could tough it out, do our daily duties and THEN deal with it back home. But then we tried to do the news...those studio lights. It was like an assault on my senses! I don't even remember anything after that. What happened?"

"Well..." Marie winced, as if she herself didn't want to know the details. She continued, regardless, "You struggled to read out the script, you kept squinting to read the screen, you couldn't even get out the catchphrase. And THEN..." Marie began to suppress a retch, her face scrunched up, "You...urgh, you vomited all over me and the studio floor. And then you passed out."

"Oh Cod, did I?!" Callie wailed, hands pressed to her head. She faded from her panic, turning to Marie in delirious confusion, "Then...why'm I here?"

"I dragged you home. We went to commercial break and I dragged you all the way there..." Marie sighed. She paced around the room, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration, "Dang it, Cal...you gave me a scare back in the studio! If you were so sick, why didn't you say so? Do you know how many people you could've infected?!"

It was a long time before Callie spoke. She could feel the guilt well up in her system. It was...unbearable. She started to cry, "I'm sorry...I didn't want to let down my fans. I didn't want to let down YOU..." she looked up at Marie's frustrated expression, and her own dipped further, "I did, didn't I?"

"No, Callie..." a hefty sigh escaped Marie's lips, "Just, please, tell me next time. I'm sure we've curried enough favor from the studio for the odd day off. Just...tell me what's going on. There's no shame in admitting weakness like that. We're people, too..." she approached her cousin and flashed her one of her trademark sly smiles, "Okay?"

Callie, after a bit, was all too happy to oblige, smiling weakly back at her, "...Okay."

"Good. Paramedics say you've got something real bad. You got Squid Flu, Callie. Nasty stuff. So no getting out of bed for a good week or so. They told me you can eat foods and keep them down, though..." with that, Marie finally handed the plate over to Callie, placing it gingerly on the bed. She checked her wristwatch, "Look, I gotta get back to the studio, get the last of the news out once my outfit is washed. As...well, you puked on it."

Callie's ears drooped, "I'm sorry..."

"I know..." Marie mumbled, reaching for the door, "Don't worry, I found an intern to look after you while I'm gone. Should be here soon..." she stopped and turned to face Callie, her face full of regret, "I'd...give you a hug, but I don't want Squid Flu. No offence," a stinging doorbell rang out, audible from the bedroom. Callie winced as the sound hit her sensitive eardrums, while Marie smiled, "Ooh, there she is! I'll see you later, Cal."

Callie grunted her response, a bit too weak to speak right now, and Marie waved her exit, closing the bedroom door behind her. Callie didn't have much to say, her stomach empty and her head full, she settled under the covers and tried to get some rest. After some time, there was a knock on the door. It was a polite rapping, a bit different to Marie's more normal knock, or perhaps Callie's own energetic mini-knocks.

Callie spat out some bile into the nearby bucket and croaked, "Come...come in..."

The door creaked quietly and yet still painfully as the new squid entered the room. She was quite young, about Callie's age, her tentacles a shade of white and her eyes a glimmering gold. She was wearing a red hoodie and the standard black shorts, as well as white trainers and a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. She had a backpack slung across her torso, and a stack of papers bound in a book underneath her arm. She had her tentacles up in a bun, as well, and upon closer inspection had a pen resting on her right ear.

"Aah, Miss Callie," the squid spoke. Her voice was most unusual to Callie's ears; a soft, polite voice with an accent that did not emphasise r's like her own did, "A pleasure to meet you. My name is Catherine. But you can call me Cadence. That's my pen name. I...think."

"Accent?" Marie called out deliriously, pointing weakly at Cadence, "You're not from around here, are you?"

"No, Miss," Cadence shook her head, "I come from New Inkshire. My brother wanted to move to Inkopolis, though. He wants to join the Agents in that...uh, that Splatoon?"

"O-Oh, yeah, I heard of 'em...they're cool..."

"I know," Cadence shook her head again, and then perked up, "A-Anyway, I'm here, if you need me. I'd say to just shout to get my attention, but, uh...kind of clear your voice cannot do that...actually, might be better if I just stay here. Watch over you," she quickly spun around to stare at Callie directly, "I-If you're okay with that, of course."

"I don't mind," Callie shrugged, shuffling further to bury herself in the bedsheets, a vain attempt to at least approach comfortable. Not exactly easy when you're entire body felt so weak and ravaged, with the horrific feeling of being close to throwing up on her mind. She cleared her throat and looked up at Cadence, "So, what'll you do to pass the time?"

"I write, Miss Callie," Cadence took the pen off of her ear, as if to help prove her point, "I write short stories. I want to become a real writer one day. Perhaps a few years on, if my brother does well at being an Agent. He..." Cadence scratched the back of her head, her expression worried and her voice full of doubt, "Wanted all of his life to be one. Oh, hey, how about I read you some of my drafts? I have them with me, for future reference. And they're not fanfiction, I promise."

"...Sure," Callie flashed something resembling a warm smile, "I'd love to hear them."

"Thank you," Cadence smiled warmly back. She reached out to grab a chair in the corner of the room and brought it forward to be in front of Callie. She gracefully placed herself in the chair, took her book out and opened the cover to the first page, "This one is based off of something I saw once. It's the story of a young female dragon, and her best friend, fighting against an evil alien invasion," she cleared her throat and began, "There was a bright streak of light as the sun dawned on a new day in the valley..."

And from there, she continued, reading line after line, paragraph after paragraph. Of dragon heroines and knights in shining armour and a lucky team's shenanigans during Turf War. One story even had this weird vigilante guy on the run, a wisecracking, talking Paintbrush in his hands, fighting the good fight across many universe and yet unable to face his own demons. Each word felt purposeful, each description long and yet ever so detailed. Vivid images danced in and out of Callie's floating mind, calming her in a way no medicine ever could. It didn't take long for Callie to let out a little sigh and drift off into peaceful sleep. Cadence had looked up from her book to find Callie soundly asleep, a smile on her face that contrasted so well with the pained grimace of before. Cadence beamed back in response, a fair measure of pride welling up in her heart, and she silently got up and tip-toed towards the TV room, letting the sick squid pursue further adventures in her dreams.


End file.
